I walked into a seldom-used room in the Tower of the Sun. Inside was a large frame with arcane runes carved into it with a few shattered fragments of mirrored glass still hanging within it. Next to it sat a book stand with a dusty tome upon it with my cutie mark stamped on the cover. I swung the door and locked it from both entry and sound with a pair of spells. I followed suit with the single window and I sat before the broken mirror.
A single tear, then two slipped down my muzzle and onto the stonework of the room. A third formed and sobbing broke free from my throat as I laid my head down, memories replaying.
"You have to do it. Before she gets here."
"I don't want to! There has to be another way!"
"Why?" I whispered between sobs. "We've found solutions to other problems here."
But that was the sad truth. Yes, here we had found solutions to problems, but I always seemed to be on the short end. When the Changelings had invaded Canterlot, Chrysalis had overpowered me, the snowstorm of the frozen north had been stronger than the combined magic of myself and my sister, and it had taken a depowered pair of Unicorns, a powerless Chaos God, and a Changeling renegade to rescue me from the most recent catastrophe.
What good was I? Ever since I had to banish Luna it was one constant mistake after another, to be solved by my protegé. Sunset, Tirek, Discord, the Crystal Empire, Chrysalis...
Sombra.
I could still hear his voice. Nopony knew of his menace as Luna and I did, and yet...
I knew of a side of him that nopony else had. A side seen only through a mirror darkly, where our roles were reversed.
As Luna's moon rode the nighttime sky, the dim glow of the book became more obvious. But I couldn't gather the will to go read it. The pain was still fresh in my mind, and surely in his as well.
And the tears wouldn't stop when I thought of him.
"You cannot be serious!" I said, unbelieving.
Sombra turned towards me, he eyes showing veiled pain. "Tia," he said, stepping towards me. "Your counterpart is every day making headway into the southernmost parts of my kingdom. If she were to learn of your world, then her thirst for conquest would never be sated. If things become desperate, you must sever the connection between our worlds."
"How can you ask me to do that?" I whispered. "It would mean that I could never see you again!"
"If she gains access to the mirror, that means that she has already dealt with me in a way that I would not wish you to know of," he said, leaning forward and nuzzling me. "I know the sacrifice I am asking you to make, but I am asking you for the protection of your world! The Celestia here had no compunctions killing Serene, and she was her own sister. She'll have no more difficulty destroying you."
"Sombra, there must be something that can be done," I said. "Maybe the Elements of Harmony..."
"Tia, you said yourself that the best you could do was banish Nightmare Moon," the somber Unicorn said. "It would merely make it a stop-gap measure and the problem would return in time." He shook his head. "You know, deep down, that I am right."
A few tears slipped down my muzzle.
I don't know how long it had been since I had heard from him. The book had been the one compromise he had allowed, but the last entry of his I had read had been so full of sorrow and heartbreak I had sealed this room for several years. The dim glow of the book indicated that there was a new message, but reading it would only peel off the scab over the hole in my heart. I already had come to terms with saying goodbye, yet...
Always,
Once, I had read a theory that there are ponies who can only truly fall in love once, and their hearts are so encapsulated and changed by that love that they can never love another. I had thought it rubbish, for I had seen relationships change so many times in my lifetime, aides and castle staff, even Luna on a few occasions.
But it was true. Deities be damned, but it was true for me. Whenever I read one of Twilight's letters that spoke of her friend's romantic escapades or of some trouble Cadence had sorted out due to her special talent, my mind immediately flashed to Sombra. The sound of his heartbeat, the sound of his breathing. The soft, baritone sound of his voice when he would sing...
More tears joined their companions on the floor.
"I was a fool," I whispered. "A blind fool. I should have listened when Star Swirl told me to stop going. I should have..."
The book flashed brightly, a gentle vibration rocking the stand it was on. Curiosity overriding my heartache, I levitated the book over to me. Flipping through the pages brought both a smile and more tears to the fore as memories were brought back to life in my mind's eye.
"You think it works?" I asked, looking at all the little bits of paper tied to the trees.
"I can't say one way or the other," Sombra said. "But at the least, it gives ponies hope, and sometimes that's all they need."
"Hope is a wonderful thing to feel," I said. "We should make a wish! After all, that is what you called this, wasn't it? A wishing garden?"
He laughed. "Well, my radiance," he said with a smirk. "What would you wish for?"
"That one day we could be together," I said. "Always."
"That sounds nice," Sombra murmured, eyes going distant. "Always."
I found the entry that I had been avoiding for so long.
My darling radiance,
It has been a long time since we have spoken, I wonder if anything is wrong. I know that the magic of this book is intact, therefore I know that you are still alive. I suppose I can understand your reticence, I did force a difficult choice upon you, then made you choose the way I had thought best.
And it was at the time. Hindsight, however, is never a kind mistress. If I had known then that Celestia Sol Invictus would have lost her strength after the sun was lowered, I would not have made you go. Your counterpart was a pale comparison to you, and it pained me to banish her to the frozen north.
Still, maybe the ways are not permanently sundered. These books still work, after all. Perhaps there is hope yet.
I smiled. The optimist, even after these long years. I turned the page and found a single written word.
Always...
I raised a hoof to my mouth to choke off the sob. I could hear his rumbling voice whisper that word in my ear almost as though he were here.
I rubbed my hoof against the word, and I let it out, a keening, throat scratching wail of grief and anger and madness. Through the tears and the haze of anguish, I saw a sparkle of light. At first, I thought it was moonlight off the shards of glass, but then I noticed something that hadn't been there a moment ago.
A single slip of paper, long and thin.
I tilted my head and stood, stepping over to it and brought it to my face in my magic. When I finally oriented it properly, my heart clenched in shock.
CE 1203, Sombra and Celestia make the following wish:
To be together, always.
"It can't be," I whispered. "We tied this to a tree in the garden."
But I recognized the writing, the distinct styles of both of our signatures. It even had the weathered look and feel of paper that had been rained on and dried.
"How?"
The book buzzed again, and I rushed to it. Another short message.
Keep hoping it read.
And I looked at the slip of paper and the shards of the mirror, and the hole in my heart closed slightly.
"Always," I whispered to the mirror, summoning a quill and ink.
I could hear her voice plainly as though she were next to me. I smiled when for the first time in several years the book flashed a golden glow and new words began crawling across the page.
Always...
With hope,
Your radiant Celestia
I smiled and turned away from the mirror that let me see but not cross. It had pained me to see the wail of grief she had let loose, knowing I was the cause. Sending the slip had been a long shot, but it had worked.
"Do you want me to keep looking into this, Your Majesty?" a small purple Unicorn asked.
"Hm?" I murmured, momentarily distracted. "Oh, yes, please do."
I glanced once again at the mirror.
"I'm certain you'll make great strides, my faithful student."
Twilight Sparkle smiled up at me and pranced off to her library for more research.
I could see her still, standing tall, her mane and tail shimmering even in the dark of the room she was in.
Always